Wildlife lovers have a real treat in store when a new series begins on Channel 5.

Scotland – A Year in the Wild starts on Friday 25 June 2021 at 7pm on Channel 5.  It covers one season per episode.   The opening episode covers spring, and there is an incredible number of beautiful birds such as puffins, ospreys, black grouse and white-tailed eagles

So this is a good opportunity to take a look at some of the organisations working hard to protect Scottish wildlife.  Many of these have membership schemes and you can give a gift donation to help them continue with their work.

Scottish Wildlife Trust

The Trust has 42,000 members, most of whom are in Scotland but some live as far away as Oman and Australia!  Memberships help the Trust protect wildlife on 120 reserves and campaign for greater protection of land and seas.  Members can gain free and unlimited access to visitor centres, copies of the magazine, invites to exclusive events and more!  They also have a Resilience Fund you could donate to on behalf of your loved one.  You can join online, by post, over the phone or at one of the visitor centres the Trust has.   Become a member 

National Trust for Scotland 

There are 300,000 members of the National Trust for Scotland who work to protect Scotland’s beautiful places.  Members have free entry to National Trust for Scotland places and free or concessionary entry to National Trust organisation properties worldwide – this includes England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  There’s free parking at their car parks with downloadable passes as soon as you join, plus publications and guides as well!  The Trust cares for ancient houses, battlefields, castles, mills, gardens, coastlines, islands, mountain ranges and all the communities, plants and animals which depend upon them.  Give a gift membership today! 

The South of Scotland Wildlife Hospital

The South of Scotland Wildlife Hospital aims to rescue, rehabilitate and release native wildlife.  Members of the public, the SSPCA and veterinary practices in the area bring animals to the hospital which is sited on the grounds of Barony College.  The charity runs on donations from the public and charitable organisations.

Become a member and help injured wildlife!  Members receive a newsletter published three times a year, and it has updates, animal stories and news.  You can read how the hospital nurses its patients back to health and back to the wild.  You can join online or download and print off the form from their website and post it off.  

The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

Back in 1995, the Trust was established as the Highland Foundation for Wildlife (it changed its name in 2017).  It is dedicated to wildlife conservation and research and has a special focus on species recovery projects such as the white tailed eagle, and the restoration of natural ecosystems.  It does important work in the field through projects.  It does not have a membership scheme but you can donate to help the Foundation in its work.

John Muir Trust

The John Muir Trust educates people about nature, looks after over 60,000 acres wild land and influences decision makers.  It connects people with wild places, campaigns to protect these places and to restore and re-wild the land.  The support of members and donors enable the Trust to do this work.  Some of the places it owns include the summit of Ben Nevis and part of the Cuillin on Skye and Glenlude on the Scottish borders.

You could give a membership to the John Muir Trust or Adopt an Acre
Image ©John Muir Trust

Members enjoy a welcome pack with recent publications, a bookmark and car sticker, two issues a year of the John Muir Trust Journal, two issues of Members’ News, an invite to the AGM and Members Gathering, great members’ offers and the chance to join staff and other members on conservation work parties and at local members’ group events.  Give a gift membership today! 

Red Squirrel Survival Trust

You could also make a donation to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust and help the Trust save red squirrels!   They are the UK’s only native squirrel.   Make a donation on behalf of your loved one here 

For anyone who loves steam trains, there’s a programme on BBC4 tonight (Wednesday 23 June 2021) about the magnificent Flying Scotsman.

Starting at 9pm on BBC4, the programme steams through the history of this iconic train, taking a journey through its history.  Barbara Flynn narrates us through the tale of a train which has a place in the hearts of train enthusiasts everywhere.

Today, the Flying Scotsman is owned by the National Railway Museum and you can make a donation on behalf of a train lover to keep the train steaming along.   The Flying Scotsman returned to the tracks in 2016 after a considerable overhaul.  There’s lots of history about this epic train here.

The National Railway Museum’s site says that the Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 at the Doncaster Works.   The train was given the name Flying Scotsman after the daily service  from London to Edinburgh, which began in 1862.   Flying Scotsman was selected to appear at the British Empire Exhibition in London in 1924. She was renumbered 4472 instead of the previous 1472.

The Flying Scotsman clocked 100mph in 1934 – officially the first locomotive in the UK to hit that speed.

Public donations and grants were used to buy the train in 2004 so that it could be brought back to glory.   And today, the train is back on tour in 2021 (after the coronavirus cancelled the 2020 tour) and you can see where she is stopping here.

There’s an online gift shop with a number of items from the National Railway Museum (also featuring the Flying Scotsman) and English Heritage sells a Hornby Flying Scotsman for anyone who wants to have their own train set at home.  It includes rolling stock, track and accessories. 

The Hornby Flying Scotsman Train Set is available from English Heritage

The National Railway Museum is now open (please check the website for booking info, opening times, as with the coronavirus things can change very rapidly as we all know). 

The website has lots of fascinating information about the history of railways with really interesting stories about times past and our railways.  Take a tour through it online!

Don’t miss:  BBC2 Thursday 17 June The Great Northern Garden Build

During lockdown (and well before that), the RHS have been very busy indeeed.   A team of designers, engineers and gardeners have come together to work on the UK's most amazing garden project.  Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith created the master plan and the results are incredible!   And RHS Bridgewater is now open - advanced booking a must). 

On BBC2 on Thursday 17 June 2021, you can get behind the scenes to find all about it in a programme called The Great Northern Garden Build. 

The four part series tells us how the RHS’s fifth garden has been created.  It is one of the most ambitious and challenging gardening projects the UK has ever seen.

The programme goes behind the scenes and gives us the chance to meet the designers, engineers and gardeners who took on this enormous project.  Volunteers have played an important role, too. 

The garden was created on the site of a former grand Victorian estate in Greater Manchester.

Needless to say, there were plenty of challenges along the way, including the lovely British climate and the coronavirus which hit six months before the garden’s grand opening.

There's lots to see and do at RHS Bridgewater - you'll have to go back!  

There's the Weston Walled Garden with multiple garden rooms and colourful borders.   There are wider woodland meadows and lakes and a Woodland Play area for the kids.  

Be inspired by the Kitchen Garden, the Chinese Streamside Garden and Paradise Garden. Visit Community Grow, which encourages members of the community to develop their skills.   There are the Orchard Gardens, and the Victoria Meadow - the latter being 21 acres which are being transformed from being described as species poor to a rich, varied tapestry of native flora, perfect for wildlife. 

And if you can't get to Bridgwater itself (which is in the Greater Manchester area), take a look at Virtual Bridgewater on the RHS website.

Why not give a gift membership to the RHS today?   The membership benefits are listed here. 

Have you been watching The Secrets of the Transport Museum on Yesterday UKTV?

The programme is from Brooklands Museum in Surrey, the birthplace of motor-racing.  The Museum celebrates our incredible history of innovation in aviation and motor sport.  You can read about the history of the museum here.

It’s home to an incredible collections of historic vehicles.  And maintaining the cars, aircraft, buses and motorbikes means an army of volunteers working like mad to keep them all in tip-top condition.

The programme follows the engineers and everyone who looks after these wonderful machines.  It’s a ten part series.

Now, if you know of someone who has always wanted to visit the Brooklands Museum, you may be interested to know that Red Letter Days has a number of experiences at the Brooklands Museum you could treat them to.

Some of these enable you to see Concorde as well, others involve lunch or afternoon tea.

Not only that, as a visitor from this website you can enjoy 15% off with the code AHW2021RED.  The code is valid until 31 December 2021 – it doesn’t apply to non-discountable products.

There’s also Entry for Two Adults at The Silverstone Experience (Northamptonshire) available from Red Letter Days. 

Roar off to Red Letter Days' website!